This sent Alex off to a flying start in business development, which spans over more than 16 years. Alex worked with a variety of small, medium and corporate businesses in Russia, Cyprus and finally the UK. He made a conscious decision to concentrate on learning as many skills as possible to find out how businesses worked and what the pitfalls were as well as solutions to challenges. Within two years of Alex’s arrival in the UK he was offered to develop Eastern European department for DSV-Samson Transport in Milton Keynes. Within 3 years Alex created a successful and strong operation with a network of partners across Europe and blue-chip clients such as Gillette, Vitabiotics, B&W Loudspeakers, to name a few.

Always seeking new challenges, Alex joined DRS Data Research Services plc as a Project Manager. Data capture and management is somewhat different from the transport industry; however, Alex was very excited about new opportunities and rose to the challenge. In the six years with DRS Alex implemented strategies, developed and managed time-critical projects for public and private sectors, such as Qualifications & Curriculum Authority (QCA), DfES, Local Authorities, Land Rover, Tesco, etc. One of Alex’s most exciting and challenging projects was in partnership with the DfES, Local Authorities and their software suppliers. School Admissions was introduced to coordinate and to speed up admitting of children to schools through standardising processes across various Local Authorities whilst reducing cost as well as to improve accuracy of data processing. Within two years of the initial pilot project with one Local Authority, School Admissions was so successful that it evolved into a product which a majority of Authorities and families in England are now benefiting from.

Alex’s quest to learning about various aspects of running a business continued when he was offered a role of Business Development and Franchise Manager within The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Alex’s SME client base ranged from start-ups through to established ventures with Turnover of over £2M. Alex worked in partnership with business owners using all his previous experience, local business connections and the bank’s resources and its knowledge database to help them grow and develop and become more successful. During his time with RBS Alex helped over 500 businesses not only to successfully launch but also to manage their finances, expand and increase their profits by streamlining processes.

Alex grew from working in a business and looking from the inside out to working with businesses and looking from outside in. Throughout Alex’s career, and later with the help of his clients at the bank, Alex learnt a lot of what it meant to be in business and what it took to succeed. Alex developed a passion to help business owners realise their dreams whilst learning with them.